Thought Leadership
A Google DeepMind engineer has unveiled Gem, a browser that doesn’t load websites but instead has an AI generate them completely from scratch on every visit.
DeepMind engineer Vidy Thatte posted a first glimpse of his project on X on July 22 and shared a TestFlight link for iPhone users a few days later. Instead of fetching a webpage from its server the usual way, the Gem browser hands every URL entered to Google’s Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite model and has it generate its own version of the page in real time.
For a real, existing address, this produces the model’s own interpretation rather than the actual site; for a nonexistent address, Gemini simply invents a fitting website. Thatte’s reasoning: with a model as fast and cheap as Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite, there’s practically no longer any meaningful difference between loading an existing page and generating a brand-new one.
Since this is a private side project rather than a full, official application, Gem does not come with its own Gemini access built in. Users have to supply their own API key linked to their Google account, through which all usage is billed. A free key can be created via Google AI Studio, though according to test reports its free quota is already used up after just a few minutes of use.
Up to two dozen visual variants of Gem per page
Among the tested features is the ability to have an already generated page redisplayed on request in one of roughly two dozen different visual styles, such as a comic book, Windows 95 look, or a plain terminal. According to reports from the trade publication XDA Developers, headlines from a news article were retained in one case, while the actual body text was regenerated entirely by the model.
When entering a deliberately nonexistent address, namely the tester’s own name, Gem reportedly generated a convincing but entirely fictional portfolio page within a few seconds, according to the same report, whose linked LinkedIn profile was likewise not a real page but a complete fabrication invented by Gemini, complete with a made-up follower count and details.
Google DeepMind had already demonstrated a comparable concept back in March, in the form of an official demonstration available in Google AI Studio using the predecessor model Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite. Gem itself is so far only available in limited form via Apple’s TestFlight service for pre-release versions.
(Editorial Team)
